Fuel cells are useful for generating electricity based on an electrochemical reaction. Several components of the fuel cell are designed to facilitate the electrochemical reaction. One of the challenges associated with operating a fuel cell is maintaining an adequate seal at various locations within the cell stack assembly. For example, it is desirable to maintain the reactants in the chemically active portion of the fuel cell to realize the electrochemical reaction. In the case of a phosphoric acid fuel cell, it also is desirable to maintain the phosphoric acid in appropriate locations within the cell stack assembly. Various proposals have been made to address such concerns, however, some of them may not provide adequate sealing performance while others introduce undesired additional expense into the cost of a fuel cell system.